


Welcome home, Dave

by vriskasbathtub



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, Brothers, Run Away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 08:13:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1104514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vriskasbathtub/pseuds/vriskasbathtub
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave ran away from home 5 years ago, and now that he is engaged he has decided it's time to face Bro again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome home, Dave

You step foot into your apartment for the first time in 5 years. You are currently 18 years old, and it is hot as fuck.

"Bro! Where are you?"

You set your shit down on the old-as-the-mother-fucking-paleolithic-era-looking futon sitting in the middle of your living room and take a look around.   
Bro doesn't seem to have changed a goddamn thing, and to most people this would make them feel sentimental or some shit, but to you, it just pisses you the fuck off.  
You assumed he would have grown up and gotten a real job when you left, but all the smuppets lying around tell you that isn't the case. You were hoping he would of dropped all the ironic bullshit by now, but that seems to not be the case anymore. Smuppets and shitty swords still take up most of the walking around room, and you find yourself growling to yourself that you have to wade through smuppet ass to get to your old bedroom.  
You reach the door to your bedroom and try and call bro one more time.

"BRO GET YOUR FAT LAZY ASS OUT HERE AND TALK TO ME."

To no avail. You sigh to yourself and open the door. You find your room relatively untouched, which strikes you as odd.   
What? Bro never came in here to riffle through his shit, or look through his computer? You figured he would at least come in here and taken your fan, which remains the only one in the apartment. But no, it remains just as you left it all those years ago. Window shattered, apple juice spilled on the floor (thanks egbert) and computer still on.   
Now that you think about it, its kind of eerie. 13 year old Dave Strider, forever embodied into this shitty ass room in this shitty ass apartment.   
You lay down on the bed and put your arms behind your head. You look over at your shelf and see all the dead creepy shit. ugh. Why did you ever like that shit? Irony?   
Psh whatever. What matters now is that you're home, even if it is the home you've been avoiding for 5 years.

You wake up a few hours later to hear the front door slam in the living room. You stare up at the ceiling and wonder if he saw your stuff. He didn't know you were gonna be coming. You thought it would be better if you just showed up. You wouldn't know how to say that you were coming home over the phone. Too awkward. It was easier this way.

"Hey bro, im back! I know you havent seen me in 5 years, but hey, no big deal right?"

Yeah you wish.  
It's gonna suck talking to bro after all these years, you suddenly leaving with no explanation.   
What sucks is that he didn't even try and look for you.   
That's what hurts the most.

You lay on your bed and wait for him to come in.  
Ti come in and talk to you and hug you and be like "I missed you." or "What the fuck are you doing here?" or "Where were you?" or something. Anything.  
But after waiting for what seems like an hour, you realize that's not gonna happen. He's gonna make you go to him. Just like old times.

After sitting in your room for what seems like all fucking day, you decide to go and scrounge for food.  
You reach the door and tell yourself "Be strong Dave. Cool kid. Cool. Unphased by even the shittiest of shit."

You walk out of your room and immediately you see him lounging on the futon watching tv. 

"Hi bro."

He turns to you and says "Sup kid?"

"I'm home bro."

"I can see that Dave. There's food on the counter. It's thai." 

"Ok cool. Thanks."

And that was it. He just turned around and pretended like things were peachy fucking keen. This is what drove you away. The fucking cool kid act that he imposed on you, the shitty fucking irony, and the ignoring you. The pretending nothing ever bothered him. How fucking dare he? Who the fuck does he think he is. This is the first time you've seen or talked to him in 5 fucking years. And the most you get is a "Sup kid?".   
You feel the anger bubble up inside of you and you grab the thai food.

You stomp back to you room, not even giving him a second look.   
Once you get to your room, your appetite is gone, so you decide to lie face down on your bed while listening to your still sick as hell beats.   
It seems nothing here has changed here. Not even your dope ass lyrics.

After a few minutes, you flip over on your back and think about the last five years of your life.

Your friend John Egbert invited you to come live with him out of the blue one day, which shocked you, regardless of how much you complained about bro. "My Dad said he wouldn't mind you staying at all Dave, and I'd love it if you came and stayed with us!"  
You didn't even bother leaving Bro a note. You didn't think bro would care all that much, really. It took you about 2 weeks of travelling on busses and hitchhiking, but eventually you ended up at John's doorstep. You didn't realize how far away Washington was from Texas. Once you got there, you settled in relatively quick. You went to the same high school as John, and his dad thought of you like his second son. Honestly, you couldn't have been happier. You had a family who loved you, not a puppet in sight, and the refrigerator was filled with food and not shitty ass swords.

Once you both graduated high school together, John dropped the news of him moving to Africa for the next 4 years to volunteer at refugee camps. His dad offered to let you stay there with him,but you decided it was time to move on. You went to see Rose, a mutual friend of you and John's, and stayed with her for about a month. She was like a sister to you, and just as amazing as you thought she was gonna be in person. She was smart and funny and treated you like she'd known you her entire life. Her mom was in remission for alcoholism, so Rose lived with her mom and said she needed company anyways, and offered to let you stay there for as long as you wanted, but again, you decided it was time to move on. You told Rose goodbye and went to visit Jade. Jade was also a mutual friend of John and Rose, but she was different than Rose. She acted so young, though she was the same age as you. She lived in the middle of nowhere, by herself so she clung to you at all times, even to the extent of sharing a bed with her. You couldn't help falling in love with her, she kinda forced it on you. You were originally supposed to stay a month, like at Rose's house, but you ended up staying a bit longer than planned. 

Four months seems like such a short time, but when you're alone together 24/7 for 4 and a half months, it's hard not to rush things. Like sex, and talks of the future, with things such as marriage, and kids on the line.   
To be honest, you never thought you were gonna see Bro again. But Jade said if they were gonna have a future together, she wanted him to be in it, and he needed to make amends. She didn't really give you a choice on whether or not you wanted to see Bro again. One day she handed you a plane ticket and said "Dave, don't come back unless you hash things out with your brother. Hs's important and he loves you, ok?" "Only for you Jade. Only for you." and with that, you got on a flight to Texas.

You never realized how hard it would be to walk into that apartment. You'd been running away from it your entire life, and you thought noone inside of it would ever care if you came back or not.

When you were 13, pretty much all you did was run your shitty blogs and talk to your friends.   
John, Jade and Rose were your fucking life line. They got you in a way all the buttfucks you went to school with didn't. They understood who you were inside, they understood all the shit you went though.

You were living day to day with bro, who at the time was 20 years old and not ready to be a goddamn parent. He sometimes forgot to feed you, and barely even acknowledged you. You were just the person he strifed with and had to sign school field trips permission slips for.

You eventually fall asleep to the sound of the tv playing in the living room. John's dad always had a rule about no TV after 11, which always bothered you because if there was a TV on, then someone was awake, and you were safe.   
When you were little, and you got nightmares you would always take comfort in the fact that Bro was awake, because noone could beat bro up. He was too big and strong. Dave always remembered this and laughed. You began calling this "Bro goggles" because when you were younger you put bro on a fucking silver platter, one that you never thought he deserved later on in life.

You missed your life with Bro in a way, but you always told himself that this was better for bro. He could have a life now.  
You were the one making a sacrifice this time. You were making a sacrifice for Bro.

You wake up the next morning to the smell of eggs cooking from the kitchen.  
What the fuck?  
You roll out of bed and wander into the kitchen.

He sees the look of surprise on your face when you walk over to him.

"Yeah, I decided the swords in the fridge were a little much a few year back." he says while chuckling.

"Yeah I can see that."

"Do you want peppers in yours, or is that not a thing anymore?"

"Um, yeah sure. I'll take some peppers.:  
How the hell did he remember that after so many years?

"You can go sit on the futon. I got this."

"Alright cool."

10 minutes later, bro walks over to you and hands you a plate.

"Thanks. I'll be gone in a few days, so you don't have to worry about me bothering you or anything." you say as you move your stuff out of the way so he can sit. 

"You can stay for as long as you want Dave. You're not bothering me at all."

Did his voice just crack?

"Alright, cool. So what's been good lately?" you say so cooly, you're pretty sure you just gave frosty the mother fucking snowman a run for him money.

"Not much little man. Smuppets, swords. The usual. Well shit, I guess you're not my little man anymore are you?" He looks over at you and smiles.

"Nah I guess not. It has been a few years bro."

"It's been 5 years and 3 months, Dave."

You look over at him and you see something you haven't seen in Bro before.   
He's tearing down his walls. Giving up the charades. Letting go of the cool kid persona he drilled into you since you were born, saying it was the "Strider way" Poof. Gone. Shows over kiddos.  
You try and mumble out something of an apology, but you stop when you see a tear on his cheek, rolling out from underneath his shades. 

"I'm only showing you this because I don't think I'll ever get to show it to you again Dave. Why'd you leave kid? Was I really that bad?" the pain in his voice is so surprising to you, something so new, it makes you stop any and all apologies that even cross your mind. He needs the truth right now.

"Bro, I love you dude, and I always will. I just...I had to go find shit out for myself. Don't you get it? I was so young back then, I didn't even think it through. John said "come" and I just went, yknow? I didn't even stop to think about it. Like "Yo Dave, chill for a sec. You could be hurting bro." ya feel? you were always my cool ironic older brother who would have been better off without me. I didn't want to impude on your life, yknow? You were what, 19 when I ran away? I couldn't force you to give up your life for me. And I'm so fucking sorry dude. I never meant to hurt you dude. I thought you wouldn't care."  
By the end of your little rant you're crying so hard you take off your shades and rub your eyes.   
You told yourself on the plane ride over here, and when you first got the front door, that you weren't gonna cry.   
You realize youll never escape the little 13 year old who ran away so many years ago. 

His shades are off now, and hes looking you straight in the eyes. You've only seen his bright orange eyes a handful of times, and they still manage to take your breath away. "How are his eyes that color?" you think, but then realize that your eyes are bright red, and that you dont have much room to talk.

"Dave, how could you think that I didn't care? I've been looking after you almost your entire life. You didn't even know mom and dad, dude. I was your mom and dad. I tried to do everything for you. I gave you the life I wanted growing up. No rules, you could do whatever you want, and lots of swords and fireworks and shit lying around, at your disposale. When you left, it broke me, little man. You didn't leave a note, you never called, nothing. It was like I didn't even matter to you. I knew you went to live with John. I got in touch with him almost as soon as you left. He never told you this, but I talked to him almost every night since you left. How do you think I got this shit?" He says and flips open his wallet. Inside are all sorts of picture, including your graduation, your 16th birthday, and your 18th birthday. There's no way he could of gotten those unless he talked to john. You always wondered why he was always up so late on him phone. He was talking to Bro. Bro did care. Bro was looking over you, even if from afar.   
The information is alot to take in, especially since it was delivered to you in such an unstirederish way. 

You stare down at your hands in your lap for a second. You look up at him, straight in the eyes.

"Bro."

"Yeah?"

"I'm so fucking sorry."

"It's alright, little man."

You look down at your hands again, one last time.

"Bro?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm getting married."

"To Jade?"

"Yeah."

"I'm happy for you."

"Will you be my best man?"

"Isn't that reserved to John?"

"Nah. He's walking Jade down the isle."

"Yeah. I'll be your best man."

You both stand up at the same time, and turn to each other. You only look at each other for a milisecond before you embrace each other so hard, its washing away the 5 years they didn't have with each other. 

When you both pull away, Bro looks you in the eyes one more time.

"Dave?"

"Yeah?"

"I have one more question."

"Yeah?"

"Is Rose's mom still single?"

You smile and punch him in the arm. 

"Yeah you'll see her at the wedding. Last I heard of, she still has the hots for you."

Bro looks up at the ceiling and mouths the words "thank you"  
He turns to you and says "Strife?" and even before you can nod or say yes, hes flashstepped up to the roof.

You take a look around the apartment, one more time. You see all the smuppets, the old futon, the sweet as DJ equipment, and all the swords laying around and think to yourself "Home". You flashstep up to the roof, prepared to get your ass kicked by Bro.


End file.
